List of proper names of exoplanets
Proper names for planets outside of the Solar System – known as exoplanets – are chosen by the International Astronomical Union through public naming contests known as NameExoWorlds.
Naming
The IAU's names for exoplanets – and on most occasions their host stars – are chosen by the Executive Committee Working Group on Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites, a group working parallel with the Working Group on Star Names. Proper names of stars chosen by the ECWG are explicitly recognised by the WGSN. The ECWG's rules for naming exoplanets are identical to those adopted by the Minor Planet Center for minor planets. Names are a single word consisting of sixteen characters or less, pronounceable in some language, non-offensive, and not identical to existing proper names of astronomical objects. Copyrighted names, names of living individuals, and names with political or religious themes are blacklisted by the ECWG. In addition, the discoverer of a planet reserves the right to reject a proposed name for it.Questionable planets
Like the hypothesized Solar System planet Vulcan, which was named but turned out not to exist, the planetary status of a few named exoplanets has been challenged. Two have been refuted:- Dagon, thought to be the first extrasolar planet discovered by visible-light imaging, was found in 2020 to be a debris cloud from a collision of asteroids rather than a planet.
- Orbitar, detected by radial velocity, was found in 2025 to be due to intrinsic radial velocity variations in its host star.
- Tondra was detected by radial velocity, so initially only a minimum mass was known. Its true mass is debated; a 2020 study found a mass large enough to be a star, but a 2026 study found a much smaller, planetary mass.
- Thestias, Spe, and Arkas have been questioned in the literature; they may be due to intrinsic stellar RV variations, but they have not been conclusively disproven.
- There is some uncertainty about Lipperhey; its orbital period is similar to its star's activity cycle, and a 2025 study found that it cannot be confirmed based on radial velocity alone.